Wigs

ABSTRACT

A wig comprising a cap of elastic net formed of alternating zones of fine and wide mesh, strips of hairs being attached only to the fine mesh zones. The strips are formed from a number of hairs attached transversely to at least one thin elastic support.

[ 5] Sept. 17, 1974 United States Patent Molinario 3,444.865 5/1969 l32/53 7/l97i) l32/53 WIGS 3,52l.648 Capparelli ct nl.

[75] Inventor: Rene Molinario, Paris, France Primary Examiner-Robert Peshock Assistant Examiner-J. Q. Lever Aug. 19, 1971 [21] Ap N 173,205 Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Breitenfeld & Levine [30] Foreign Application Priority Data Aug. 21, i970 France ABSTRACT A wig comprising a cap of elastic net formed of alternating zones of tine and wide mesh, strips of hairs being attached only to the fine mesh zones. The strips are formed from a number of hairs attached transversely to at least one thin elastic support.

305 EN 23 3 1 2 9 3 5M 2. U 3 1 mmh uc .r. "8 mm& C cm Ur 1]] 2 00 555 [ll [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,405,791 8/1946 Lamoureux............................. 132/5 3 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENIEB SEP 1 7 I974 SHEET 1 [IF 2 N VEN TOR RENE Mac/NA R10 ,4 'r TOR/O Eys WIGS This invention relates to wigs or similar hairpieces.

Wigs have already been proposed which consist essentially of a flexible cap of appropriate shape which is usually made of non-elastic net and to which natural or synthetic hairs are fitted mechanically or manually. Wigs of this kind have considerable disadvantages; they cannot be held securely in position on the head and they can ,be worn only by the person for whom they have been made. Making to measure in this way is also relatively expensive. 1

To obviate this disadvantage, it has been proposed to make the cap of the wig from elastic net so as to give a wig having an extensible cap which holds well on the head and is able to be worn by different people. However, the use of an elastic cap gives rise to serious problems regarding the fixing of the hair to the cap. The hairs may be fixed manually in small groups, for example, .by knotting them to the cap so as to retain the elastic characteristics of the cap. Such a method is still extremely expensive and also requires the use of an elastic cap the mesh of which is very close and hence hot, heavy and unpleasant to wear.

Another method which has been proposed comprises making strips of hair by inter-connecting the hairs of a layer by one .or more transverse seams made with a ma chine, and then fitting these strips of hair to the cap. .Owing to their transverse seams, the strips of hair are not extensible and so the elastic characteristics of the cap are largely destroyed.

According to one aspect of the present invention a wig comprises a cap or base made of elastic net, and strips of hairs attached to the cap or base, the strips each comprising a number of hairs attached transversely to at least one thin elastic support.

With such an arrangement it will'be apparent that the wig is able to be held securely on a variety of different heads. The wig can be readily mass-produced irrespective of the type of hair used, i.e., natural or artificial hair or even animal hair. Also, fixing the hairs in the form of a complete layer to the wig cap or base allows the latter to be made in the form of a relatively widemesh net to allow for breathing of the scalp.

According to a second aspect of the present invention a wig comprises a cap or base made of elastic net to which hairs are attached, the cap or base comprising first zones having a wide mesh alternating with second zones having a fine mesh or being solid, the hairs being attached only to the second zones.

The 2. 1% hi t ing the wide mesh enable the scalp to breathe freely.

According to a further aspect of the present invention in a method of making a strip of hairs to be attached to the base or cap of a wig, a layer of hairs is attached transversely to at least one thin elastic support bya stitched seam while the support is held extended.

The invention may be carried into practice in various ways but one embodiment will now be described by Way of example with reference to the accompanying drawi gs, of whi FIG. 1 shows the cap or base of a wig;

FIG. 2 shows part of the cap or base of FIG. 1 on a larger scale;

FIG. 3 is a diagrammatic view of part of a sewing machine used for making strips of hair to be attached to the cap or base;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a layer of hairs sewn by means of the machine shown in FIG. 3, and

FIG. 5 is aperspective view of an elastic strip of hairs ready for fitting to the cap or base of FIG. 1.

The wig cap or base 10 shown in FIG. 1 consists of a lockstitched elastic net 12 comprising wide-mesh aeration zones 14 alternating with reinforcing close-rnesh or solid zones 16 and a strip of elastic fabric or finemesh net 18 suitably added, for example, by means of a zig-zag stitch seam, to the edge of the elastic net '12. Fixing the elastic strip 18 to the cap 12 by a zig-zag stitch seam allows the inherent elastic characteristics of the cap 12 and of the strip 18 to be retained, so that they co-operate in effectively and comfortably gripping the head in order to hold the wig in position on the head. As shown in FIG. 1, the net l2.of the cap 10 may comprise a frontal zone 15 in which the zones 12 and 14 are situated so as to pass from side .to side above the head, and a parietal zone 17 in which the zones 12 and 14 are situated so as to pass from side to side around the back of the head. The reinforcing close-mesh or solid zones 16 can be added to a wide-mesh net or, preferably, can be made mechanically at the same time as the wide-mesh zones by the use of suitable machines operating continuously to produce wide strips of elastic net.

Natural or synthetic hairs are fitted to the close-mesh zones 16 and, if required, to the elastic strip 18 thereof. As explained hereinafter, the hairs may be added by means of elastic strips of hair 19 fixed to the zones 16 and to the strip 18 so as to retain the elastic charateristics of the cap 10. If a continuous synthetic filament is used to imitate natural hair, a suitable implantation machine of known type can be used to sew and/or knot the continuous filament directly on the zones 16 and the strip 18. A determined length of filament is cut after the latter has been sewn and/or knotted to the elastic cap so as to produce an implantation of synthetic hair.

If it is required to use natural hair or synthetic hair of a predetermined length, elastic strips of hair 19 are first produced and are then attached to the close-mesh or solid zones 16, for example, by means of a zig-zag stitch seam.

Referring to FIG. 5 in particular, each elastic strip 19 of hair is in the form of a layer of hairs 20 which are suitably fixed to at least one elastic support 22 extending substantially transversely of the hairs in the layer 20. A method of producing such layers of hairs is described below with reference to FIGS. 3 and 5.

In this method, a first sewing machine (not shown) is used which operates at high speed to produce small straight or zig-zag stitches and which is preferably provided with two needles (only one of these needles is shown at 26 in FIG. 3). The machine is also provided with a stretching device or tensioning means 28 which operates in synchronism with the machine so that two elastic filaments 29 with which the two bobbins of the machine are provided can be kept in an extended state. Only one of the bobbins is shown in broken lines at 30 in FIG. 3. The filaments 31 passing through the needle 26 are conventional non-extensible fine flexible filaments, preferably made from synthetic polyester material.

To produce an elastic strip of hair, a layer of parallel hairs 20 is positioned beneath a foot 32 of the sewing machine, the elastic filaments 29 passing beneath the foot 32 and being kept extended by the tensioning means 28. The machine then produces a central double seam 34-35 which fixes the hairs of the layer on to the elastic supports formed by the filaments 29. The two parts of the layer of hairs situated on either side of the double seam 34-35 are then folded over one another and are connected by a new seam made as before by a second sewing machine similar to the first but having only one needle. Finally, if very rigid fixing of the hairs of the layer is required, it is possible to make a hem on the layer of hairs on the previously folded edge of the latter by means of a hemming sewing machine which, like the first two sewing machines, is provided with an elastic bobbin filament and a tensioning device adapted to maintain the latter under tension. Of course, the introduction of the strip beneath the foot of the second sewing machine and of the third sewing machine is carried out with the seams from the previous operations held extended so as to retain the elasticity of the strip of hairs 20, the elastic support 22 of which is formed by all the elastic bobbin filaments used during the sew- 4 ing operations.

As indicated above, all that is then required is to fit the elastic strips of hair 19 to the close-mesh zones 16 of the cap 10 to make the wig.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. A method of making a wig, comprising the steps of longitudinally stretching an elongated elastic support, attaching a layer of hair transversely to said support while maintaining said support in a stretched condition, releasing said support to obtain an elastic strip of hair, and assembling said strip together with other similar elastic strips of hair in the shape of a wig.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said attachment of said layer of hair is effected by stitching the hair to said support.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said assembling step involves securing said strips of hair to a cap made of elastic net. 

1. A method of making a wig, comprising the steps of longitudinally stretching an elongated elastic support, attaching a layer of hair transversely to said support while maintaining said support in a stretched condition, releasing said support to obtain an elastic strip of hair, and assembling said strip together with other similar elastic strips of hair in the shape of a wig.
 2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said attachment of said layer of hair is effected by stitching the hair to said support.
 3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein said assembling step involves securing said strips of hair to a cap made of elastic net. 